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xwaterice · 5 years

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“Gray and Juvia” episode final thoughts

I wanted to make a video review but I do not have time for it so I’m gonna write it instead haha anyway... I LOVED THE EPISODE.

“Gray and Juvia” as the title was a blessing. I didn’t expect it tbh because I was sure they’d choose “Fire and Ice” instead... I am so glad I was wrong! SO GLAD. An entire episode focused on Gruvia just like the manga chapters... amazing.

Before commenting the actual episode I’d like to say that, yes, I had high expectations but I also kept in mind that the new season of fairy tail is... sloppy? in terms of animation and adaptation. The pacing is too fast, things get resolved too quickly and I barely felt the “hype” each time the focus was on a huge fight or moment (I mean, when the balcony scene was animated I didn’t even have the time to flutter my eyelashes that it was over already 😂 ). Another negative note is the “still frames” which are very annoying. We definitely aren’t here to see the coloured version of the manga lol but somehow the animation studio has a thing for still frames.... -_- I was also worried they would completely censor the suicide... this to say that I didn’t watch ep 307 expecting something better than manga (that will never, never happen) nor something terrible.

The previous episode about Invel’s introduction and the first part of his fight vs Gray hyped me so much though, I was over the moon because!! THE BLIZZARD!! THE SCENERY! I LOVE IT! It looks so epic, so violent, so DYNAMIC, everything was completely frozen and compared to the previous spriggan fights it looked to DIFFERENT. I felt like it was a completely new world! The OST they played was on point as well!

It just screams “WINTER IS HERE” lmao I loved it. I could talk about this iced background for hours, hahaha if you notice it’s also different than the bg in 499 (Mashima used snow + ground, not actual ice for the floor) and it’s epic. I say it again... EPIC.

Moving on to the actual episode, I was extremely moved when we saw Invel’s portrayal of Gray’s dark side and I think it was a nice extra, scary lol, but surely nice because Gray’s darkness is something we’ve seen building up ever since Ur’s death (“I will seal your darkness”) and now someone is using JUVIA to unleash it.

Gray vs Juvia was good. I like focusing on details and I must say they did a good job in animating water and ice and their respective attacks, as they did with the most important part of the episode: the suicide.

They could have censored it. They really could have. Yet we saw: Juvia’s water blade piercing her (SIDE NOTE: totally love that it starts as ordinary water just to change its properties and harden as Juvia gets ready), BLOOD, more BLOOD, Gray piercing himself, Gray coughing BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD!!! Bloodiest FT ep (and chapter lol)

I think the animation was good; the pacing was ordinary in my opinion. I know that lots of people said it was too fast but I honestly don’t really think it was?... I actually had the time to flutter my eyelashes this time. It could have been slower and that would have been better to build the pathos and make it more dramatic but it wasn’t thaaaaat fast or “rushed” as many say. I think we are too used to the manga that we forget how anime actually is, it’s my problem at least, but I firmly believe this has something to do with the way we perceive this last season.... I take lots of breaks when I read the dialogues to focus on details, and I cannot do this when I watch the anime as it goes on its own. That’s something I forgot because I hadn’t seen the anime in... years lol so yeah I understand where people are coming from, but they spent 12 minutes to anime 499 which is HALF of the episode and the other 10 to animate 500 which was longer than usual and it counts as two chapters in one. 307 was really all about “Gray and Juvia” and all the frames were beautiful drawn.

There was a debate about Invel’s chains years ago and the anime made it clear that as he dispelled the blizzard he also undid Ice Lock freeing Gray and Juvia (lmao he literally miscalculated everything and even helped the enemy... to go after him :))) ). The blizzard is gone and so is the epic scenery, sadly. The still frames from now on... ugh. The random people talking without moving their mouths got me laughing lmao that was so awkward... but... thank god we have Gray and Juvia’s voice actors!! GIVE THEM AN OSCAR PLEASE, Gray’s scream was AWESOME. BREATHTAKING. It was so moving that the still frames weren’t so still anymore, it truly was divine... and I have chills remembering it. I wish they had animated the way Gray got closer to Juvia’s body and held her in his arms more clearly... it wasn’t even shown :/ it’s just still frames and the dynamism is gone. Same for that big Juvia panel, it’s just still while she talks and I didn’t like that... it didn’t need to be still. Anyway, Gray’s va saved this with his broken yet soft “Juvias”, such a beautiful interpretation.

^ this one frame broke me, just saying.

I will say a very unpopular opinion now but I’m honest: I didn’t like the flashbacks. Some were unnecessary (the butt touch one) and lasted too much (413 days) but I won’t complain about those because as many blogs said they wanted to show us how Gruvia’s dynamic has changed over the time from being comedic to romantic (416, 453) and they also confirmed that THIS IS GRAY’S ANSWER. Gray and Juvia went from enemies to lovers and seeing their first encounter was a must imho, but I get why they didn’t add scenes from the oldest season.

Last but not least, I liked Gray kicking Invel’s ass better than in manga lmao Gray looked even SCARIER and more violent imho it was so satisfying to watch. We all know that Invel would have died killed by Gray’s owns hands if he hadn’t to reveal END’s identity. This bitch is in prison now. ;)

That’s all. Enjoy and remember: Gray loves Juvia!

#gruvia #fairy tail #gray fullbuster #juvia lockser #my thoughts

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